


Sorry about the coffee machine

by JustAnotherFlightlessBird



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Avengers Family, Basically Everyone Needs a Hug, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes Feels, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Domestic Avengers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, I try and split the focus between them, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Natasha Romanov Needs a Hug, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Thor (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Unrequited Love, but - Freeform, you can tell I have favourites
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23471086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherFlightlessBird/pseuds/JustAnotherFlightlessBird
Summary: The Avengers- young teenagers, and troubled as they were- had been working under Fury's gang for a while now.The violence, and the danger, and the fact that it was illegal didn't much bother them, not as long as they had each other to fall back on.And they would always have each other, right?
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Clint Barton, Bruce Banner & Natasha Romanov, Bruce Banner & Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner & Thor, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

The back door of the van slams shut, and Tony, along with Natasha, makes his way idly through towards the door with a practised ease. 

He spins a pair of keys around his pointer finger, whistling a cheerful tune. Nat yawns tiredly behind him with a false casualness and an almost comic contrast to his act. 

He pulls at the collar on his polo shirt as it bites at his neck, and she frowns at her boring and bland white sneakers, so unworn they pinched at her toes. Despite this though, for all rights and purpose they both looked perfectly normal; an assuming pair, content and without bother. 

"Nice weather for early March, isn't it Kate?" Tony asks easily. 

"Yup; I hope it stays like this, I'd really love to get an early tan before the Spring" She replies airily. 

"Meh, don't know about that; I doubt it'll last long enough" 

They reach the door after a few seconds of walking up the driveway, and Natasha takes the keys off Tony as he offers them to her. 

"Let's hope this one goes easy" She mutters as she moves to put them into the lock. 

Tony turns his attention to the camera just above the doorway, angled down; it's more than likely just for show, but it's always better to be safe, he's always warned. 

"They're always so paranoid" He says gesturing to them playfully, and Natasha gives him a look as if it say, _and with good reason._

Unplugging the wire just beneath the device, Tony pulls out his phone and connects an adaptable wire between the two devices. It would be much easier if he had his laptop on him, but, hey, they work with what they have.

Natasha nudges his foot, warning him to hurry up so they don't look suspicious. He hums at her in response, and to anyone else it might've looked as though he hadn't heard and was being dismissive, but she knows him and all his quirks and relaxes, satisfied that he'd heard. 

With one final swipe, he turns off his phone and fixes the original wires back into the camera. 

"After you, m'lady" He gestures towards the door, and they walk inside without looking behind them. 

It shuts with a satisfying click, but Tony doesn't relax just yet and looks at Nat closely. Where his skills were largely technology based, she had superb observational skills, and could pick up most anything if you gave her a little time. 

She is frozen and assesses the room with a revised level of scrutiny, looking for and finding things he can't even begin to understand. Finally, she nods, and he smiles cheekily, excitedly. 

A quick knock on the garden doors and two extra heads pop into sight before shuffling their way hurriedly inside. 

"Not even an ounce of tact" Natasha tuts, but she supposes that's why they were the ones going through the back rather than the front like her and Tony. 

"Ahh, it seems friend Tony has found a house most worthy of his excitement" Thor said warmly, watching as Tony grinned madly and distractedly, looking through drawers with a childish excitement. 

"Bingo!" He exclaimed, holding up a hairdryer and looking to fit the part of a mad scientist completely, "What a gorgeous little lady!"

Without needing to be told, Steve comes over dutifully and unzips his backpack so Tony can place his treasure inside. 

"Just wait 'till he gets into the kitchen" The blonde says playfully

"Yes" Thor agrees, "Perhaps it is here he will find that which he has been searching for; this so called, _espresso machine?"_

Tony looks up with a look as though he'd just had an epiphany. 

"The kitchen! _Yes!_ No rich man in New York could survive day to day life without a _coffee machine, oh_ you beautiful beast you!" And with that he sped across the corridor in frantic search.

"Tony" Natasha warns him quickly, "We have a job to do" 

Steve and Thor collect themselves quickly after the reminder, but Tony turned around and lifted an incredulous eyebrow towards her. 

"Pish posh, Nat; we have all the time in the world. It's not often we get sent to scavenge houses, let along absolute _goldmines_ like this, now stop your yapping and help me look for the coffee machine"

Natasha frowned tensely, "You know as well as I do the less time we spend here the better" She reminds him, but she doesn't wait for him to come around, and instead begins making her way upstairs. 

"You boys start looking down here" She says to Thor and Steve, "I'll have a look upstairs to see what I can find" 

The upstairs is just as normal, if not expensive looking, as the downstairs, with smooth wooden floorboards, and bright ornate lamps.

Every room Natasha walked into had no light switches, and turned on automatically without prompt. Heat detectors, she figured, but worried that perhaps this would mean that someone was being alerted of their arrival here. She made sure to move even more quickly through the various rooms to compensate. 

In the bedroom, the covers Natasha saw on the bed- so tastefully silky, and a lovely mauve- were so pretty, she was almost tempted to snag them and bring them over to their apartment to sleep with, but she knew they'd look entirely out of place in their living room, where the lighting was jaundiced and with all the furniture was mismatched and covered in all sorts of random tech scraps.

She abandoned the thought, and continued to check carefully through every nook and cranny with a practised eye.

Finally, after a few minutes of painstaking search, Natasha saw a seam in the floorboard that looked wider than the others, as though it had been pulled up often. She kneels over to check, and pulls a screwdriver from her pocket to try and weasel it through.

She tilts it and applies pressure; the floorboard pops up and Natasha looks under, only to grin softly in triumph. 

"Boys" She calls back, "I think I've found something" 

It didn't take long for all three of them to shuffle their way upstairs; Steve's backpack was completely filled to the brim with what looked like a blender coming out through the zip. Tony was in the middle of trying to convince him to let Tony sneak an electric razor into _Thor's_ backpack. 

"Come on Steve, it doesn't even take up that much space! And I'm already carrying the internet router _and_ the toaster!"

"No, Tony; you know the rules. One backpack is for what we loot, the other is for the job"

"But-"

" _No_ exceptions"

"If you two are done squabbling" Natasha deadpans, "Take a look at this" 

She motions towards the overturned floorboard, and bends over to pick up a large, wrapped up, pound of cocaine. 

"Ahh yes!" Thor roars with his chest, "Our glorious conquest has grown triumphant" 

He catches the coke with one hand as she throws it to him, and with the other begins to unzip his backpack. 

"Only problem is" Natasha begins, "There's way more here than we thought" 

And its true; the score was huge, and there were almost a dozen neatly wrapped pounds of the drug hidden neatly under the floorboard. 

"Odd that they kept so much of it in one place" Steve frowned, "Especially somewhere so unguarded"

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Steve; you're jinxing our good fortune" Tony gets down on his knees next to Nat, and picks up 2 more bags, weighing them in his hands. He looks back up and grins at her with blinding teeth. 

"Bet this'll get Fury to cough up something extra, ayy Nat" He says excitedly.

"Why did you call this fortunate turn of events a problem, Lady Natasha?" asks Thor.

"Because, we're gonna have to use both backpacks" 

At that, Tony looks up with emotion, throwing his hands up in horror. 

"I _just_ scored us a coffee machine! It's a state of the art beauty! She even has cup holders, Nat! _Cup holders!"_ Nat gives him a regretful look, but knows she need not make any argument to convince Tony; he already knew she had won. 

She does feel bad though, he had been trying to get a coffee machine for a very long time with no avail. He refused to build one, claiming it wouldn't be the same since he didn't know _making_ coffee, he only knew drinking it. Either way, they couldn't risk being seen leaving with anything they hadn't entered with, and this find was too valuable to sacrifice. 

He looks at her with wide eyes for a few more seconds, before rolling his eyes with an enthusiasm only an ex-rich boy could conjure. 

"Fine, but whatever Fury gives us extra, I'm using it on my Starbucks loyalty card"

Together, the four of them filled the two backpacks with the cocaine dutifully, though quickly. They were eager to leave soon, because they knew- even if their intel claimed that whoever lived here wouldn't be returning for a few days- that staying longer than an hour was too risky. 

"Let's get out of here" Steve said softly, just as he lifted the 11th- and last- brick from under the floorboard.

Just as he did so, a beeping sound began to sound. It was a shrill sound, that grated at Natasha's nerves, and she looked down at the open flooring.

Under the last packet and now clearly in the open, sat a curious little machine, small and intricate. 

They all three looked at each other with matching expressions of panic, before Tony reached down and grabbed the device to inspect it.

"It's not a weapon" He said carefully after a few seconds, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. Tony picked Natasha's screwdriver up from off the floor without looking away from the tiny device. He popped the top with a satisfying ease and the noise stopped. Shuffling the two pieces around his palm a little, he turned to look at them.

"I- I _think_ it's just an LDR" He said. 

"An LDR?" Steve said, frowning. 

"Yeah; looks like it must've been set off when it got exposed to the lights" 

"I noticed all the lights turned on automatically when you walk into the room" Natasha said with realisation, "That must've been to make sure this got triggered if someone were to get into the stash, like we are now" 

"And it's attached to a transmitter, which I'm guessing alerts someone higher up that we're here" Tony says, and grins, "Brilliant"

"We've got to get out of here quick" Steve said urgently, "I'll bet we don't have much longer until they're here"

"Aye, come br-" Thor began, but was cut off abruptly by the sound of the downstairs doors being opened. 

_"Who the fuck is up there?"_ Comes a strangers voice, and the group jump to their feet. 

_"May-day, May-day; Come in Black Widow, this is Hawkeye; there's incoming. Over."_

"Bit late for that, Clint" Steve muttered.

"Window" Natasha hisses, and they bolt, only to find it locked. Steve charges forwards after going backwards a few feet, and jumps up to kick his boot through the glass. It shatters easily, and Natasha glides out, first because she need not shoulder on a backpack.

Tony is next, and is more clumsy, but he makes it out with a good amount of ease considering he has the coffee maker under his arm. 

"If we're not worried about looking suspicious walking out anymore, then I'm taking this baby with me" He tells her, and together they scale down the building.

Natasha goes first to test the footing, since she is least likely to fall, and they go round so that they can escape through to an alleyway.

All four land with solid footing, and begin to leg it down the narrow passage. Faintly they could hear larger, heavier footsteps lurking behind them, but none turned to look. 

"Split up" Steve yelled, as they saw two large thugs at the mouth of the alley in front of them, both holding knives and with mean looks on their faces.

Both Thor and Steve had the upper body strength to pull themselves up over the fence despite having no foot rest, and Natasha was light and agile enough to leap onto a ledge that faced into the pathway.

Tony, however, decided instead to plough his way through an open kitchen window that stood just metres before the end. Distantly, Nat could hear surprised yelps from whatever poor woman had to watch a sweaty-faced 16 year old carrying an espresso machine climb in through her window and exit through her front door. 

With no time to worry about the others, Natasha scaled up the the roof of a house, and began jumping between them. She made sure to stay low, and unseen, and spotted an apartment building only a few hundred feet away, with ladders she knew the others could use to climb up too. 

"Hey, I'm heading over to the apartment complex just south of Geister Street, can you send the others over? Over." She says over her radio, almost there already as she spoke.

" _Affirmative"_ Comes Clint's voice from over the speaker, _"Also, you're supposed to say it's Black Widow to Hawkeye. Over."_

"Well, you're supposed to warn us when someone's breaking into the house we're raiding. Over."

There was no response, and Nat knew he was too busy talking to the others to have heard her comment. The thing about their radios was that they could only connect to the one central receiver, which was Clint's radio back in the van. This meant that in order to communicate, they had to have one person on the outskirts playing the middle man. It was hardly ideal, but Tony always got mad when they complained about it.

("I could build you all something better, but I don't have the tools nor the resources! You wouldn't give Van Gogh a crayon and expect him to paint a masterpiece, stop doubting my genius and live with what you've got!")

Just as Natasha was about to radio in once again and ask Clint whether the others had said where they were, she spots Steve sprinting expertly across the street towards her. She moved out from where she was hidden behind a railing, and flagged him over. 

Luckily, he seemed to have lost anyone who might've been following him, and hoists himself up easily to her. 

"Do you know where the others are?" He asks

"No, but Clint would've told us if he was receiving no answer from them" 

Just as she said that, they heard terribly laboured breath coming from the opposite side of the apartment's side road. They turned to see Tony, who was struggling a little with all the cardio.

"Hey losers" He said, though it came out more like a wheeze.

Without a word, Tony threw the coffee maker upwards for Steve to catch, before grabbing the railing to climb up himself. 

"Jesus Christ, when we get home I'm gonna leave a special present on Clint's pillow" He said once reaching them; he rested his hands on his knees and bent down to catch his breath "And, newsflash; it's not gonna be a hotel issues mint"

"Now we just have to wait for Thor" Steve said, adjusting the straps on his backpack to sit more tightly against him, "And then we can get Clint to bring the van around"

"Clint's already here" replied Natasha, leaning across the railing to peer down the street, "And so is Thor"

Tony leaned over too and squinted, "And so is Thor's new friend" 

And, yes, so it seemed, there was one of the thugs that had come to the house following closely behind Thor.

Natasha was satisfied to see that the man had blood dripping down his nose, and was cradling his arm, but she could see that Thor had a slight limp, which was making it easier for the other man to keep up. 

"Come on" She said, as Clint parked himself just in front of the apartment complex. All three of them climbed down, with varying levels of ease, and run into the van, whose doors were open and waiting for them to come piling in. 

As they slid in, the doors closed on their side, but the doors on the other side stayed open for Thor, who was running towards them quickly. 

"Welcome, Avengers" Came the friendly disembodied voice of J.A.R.V.I.S, "Might I interest any of you in some music?"

"Not now, Jarv" Said Tony in a sing-songy voice, staring ahead at Thor with such an intense gaze it's as though he was trying to glare him into getting to them faster.

"He's too close to the thug chasing him" Clint said worriedly, "When he gets here, we're gonna have to fight the guy off"

"But he has a _knife"_ Tony said incredulously

"No, we're not" Steve said with finality, and grabbed the coffee machine out of Tony's hand. 

" _What are you doing?"_

And with impressive accuracy, and considerable arm strength, Steve threw the kitchen appliance over Thor's head and bonked the aggressor behind him straight in the middle of his forehead.

The man was knocked backwards off his feet, and the blonde reached the van alone, closing it behind him as Clint pressed his foot to the break and with that they hightailed it out of there. 

* * *

After that, they delivered the backpacks to Fury, who was very glad with the find, claiming that he had only expected no more than 3 bricks to be stashed in the house that day. True to his word, he payed them a healthy amount for their work, but the money was sure not to last for very long, they knew, and they would soon be back asking for more errands. 

"What impressive aim you have there" laughed Thor heartily, as Bruce back at the apartment prodded at his leg carefully.

"You all need to be more careful" Bruce said softly, looking up at them with an earnest and worried look, "Someone could've gotten seriously hurt"

"Luckily, nothing too bad happened in the end" Steve replied meaningfully

"Oh sure, if you call _murder_ nothing bad" Tony chimed in grumpily; he was sitting on their green armchair -the one that had a rip down the side that had made the price go down by half (Natasha had been the one to put the rip there when the clerk wasn't looking)- and was tinkering grumpily with a CD player they had looted a few months ago. 

"Murder?" Bruce asked, perturbed.

"He's talking about the espresso machine Steve used to give Mr Thug a 3 year concussion" Clint grinned from his place on top of the fridge. 

"Oh" 

"I would've rather one of you got stabbed by the man's machete" The brunette grumbled.

"If anyone would've gotten stabbed when that man attacked us, it would've been _you,_ Tony" 

"And I would've been better for it, _Clint"_

Despite the bickering, Natasha smiled to herself. She was relieved to be back at the apartment, where she could see all of her boys were safe and sound in front of her. She would never admit it, but she worried about them constantly when they weren't around, and was never truly at ease until moments like _this_ , in the apartment, altogether. 

Here they were safe, she sighed.

"I'm just saying, if Tony's tech was a bit more improved, I probably would've noticed them on the monitors quicker!" 

"Why you little-! Come here and have a taste of my foot; no one insults my tech!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sO, my first draft of this Tony came across as suuuuuuch an asshole; twas not my intention, please no hate. He's kind of my favourite, but he's rough around the edges.

The cart Steve was pushing had something jammed in one of its wheels, which made it annoying for him to push. He had to keep most of his weight on one side of the handle bar to get it to move straight, which was tricky since he had to stop completely just to look at the grocery list. 

"Err, onions, leeks, pop tarts, rice, _no; no beer, Clint_ " He mumbled to himself, tucking the list back into his pocket and making his way to the 3rd isle for some toilet paper. Tony always complained about the cheap brand they always bought, but Steve knew they couldn't afford to get any better brands. He plopped it back into the cart and sighed to himself. 

"That's ...3.50- maybe if I went back and changed-no.." he continued to grumble under his breath.

"Not one for reading in your head?" Came a friendly voice, and Steve looked up quickly. A brown haired girl had her cart just beside hi, she grinned at him with a set of teeth, that seemed very white in contrast next to her bright red lipstick "My mum's the same"

She had a crisp English accent, something Steve had never heard outside of television and he chuckled nervously, "Yeah, sorry, bad habit; helps me think"

"That's alright" She said, "Only, you're blocking the hand sanitiser with your trolley" 

"Oh sorry, sorry" Steve moved out the way hurriedly, accidentally snagging his ankle on the side of the girl's cart. White hot pain shot down his leg, and he hissed.

"Oh? Are you alright?" She asked

"Yeah, yeah; sorry, just grazed my ankle the other day" This much was true; Steve had scraped it against the side of the wall he'd climbed last week trying to get away from those thugs. 

"Oh, how awful; how did you do that?" She was really pretty, and Steve found himself blushing furiously despite himself. 

"Err, you know, I just tripped or- yeah" He cleared his throat and finally looked her in the eye, "I'm Steve, by the way"

She smiled at him knowingly, and gave him a little joking bow, "Nice to meet you Steve" she said, "I'm Peggy"

The rest of his time in the supermarket, Steve found himself sneaking glances at Peggy whenever he could. She caught him once or twice, much to his horror, but never told him off. 

He wishes he was more like Thor, Clint and Tony, who had never been shy when introducing themselves to new dames they thought were good looking. It was both impressive and embarrassing to watch them display themselves like peacocks to any willing viewer. Bruce and Natasha, at least, had tact. Well. Not so much Bruce.

"You'll get there one day" Said the cashier, a thin face old woman, who offered him a kind glance. Steve, for the second time that day, blushed furiously. Perhaps he'd been a little too obvious. 

"Thank you, ma'am" He said hurriedly, before picking up all his bags.

Outside, Steve quickly adjusts his grip on the bag handles before beginning to trudge his way back to the apartment. 

It's annoying that he couldn't bring the van, but Natasha and Bruce were using it to move some product for Fury downtown.

With a resigned sigh, Steve began making his way down the road, already forming a plan in his head of what he was going to do when he got home. 

_Tidy the groceries (We'll have to defrost some of the mince meat to make room for the ice cream), start dinner with Bruce (oh, maybe cottage pie, since we're defrosting the meat), get Clint to clean up the bathroom (He'll complain, but it's his turn, maybe if I-)..._

He'd just gotten himself into an acceptable rhythm, murmuring to himself quietly, when something stopped him just a few blocks from the apartment. 

"Hey, squirt" 

" _Bucky?"_

Just there, sitting on someone's garden wall, was James Buchanan Barnes with the same charming grin he's always had. His eyes were a little duller, hair a _lot_ longer, and Steve noticed a prosthetic arm peaking from under his jacket, but it was definitely him. 

"Wh- What are you _doing_ here, Buck?" 

Bucky gave him a small shrug, hopping off the wall and letting out a little laugh as they hugged as old friends. 

"I caught word that you lived round here; didn't think you'd get rid of me _that_ easily, did you?" 

Steve laughed hearily. 

"But, you were drafted! You had a minimum _4 years!"_

"Yeah, well, shit happened" Bucky said, sobering up. He lifted his prosthetic arm up as though for emphasis. 

"I got discharged from medical; honourably, but... you can't exactly have a cripple in the army"

"Buck..." 

"Two years isn't such a bad run, though" 

Steve nodded his head agreeably, and looked Bucky up and down with a careful smile.

"You've changed a lot" And it was true, James had grown out from lithe and lean, to bulking with muscle in a way Steve had not expected. It suited him, even with the long hair. 

"So have _you"_ And once again Steve blushed, sheepishly he looked down at himself and shrugged. 

"Yeah, I've been working out" He jokes, but he knew it too must have been a shock.

Where Bucky had been a normal weight to begin with before he beefed up, Steve had been downright _shrimpy. But_ he was glad to have put on so much muscle so quickly, if only because it made it easier to carry groceries, and throw coffee machines at thugs. 

Bucky looks at him for a bit, before reaching over and grabbing one of the bag handles.

Steve's stomach churns with old feelings when their hands touch, but he pushes it down desperately. 

"I'll walk you home, punk" Bucky says

"If you _must_ , jerk" He returns

They fall into an easy step, as though it hadn't been two and a half long years of being apart, and Steve tries to resist the excited laugh he's so close to releasing. It's _Bucky_. Bucky who he hasn't seen for so long. 

"So, where are you living?" He asks, probably too eagerly.

"Just around; I've got an apartment downtown I'm sharing with this guy, v'been looking for a better place for a few weeks" 

Bucky sways slightly on his toes and bumps into Steve playfully.

"How about you, slick? You live alone?" 

It's Steven's turn to bump Bucky back, and they turn a corner together.

"No, actually; I've been sharing with a couple of people. It's semi-permanent, you know" Steve smiles gently, "They're good people"

Bucky hums with interest.

"Yeah? Tell me about them" 

"Well, you already know Clint and Natasha" Bucky startles slightly

"Shit! They're still around?"

"Yeah, we ran off together after you _ditched_ us to go be a good Samaritan" Steve lets his joking tone betray that he's not serious.

"It's good, that; you all needed it" says Bucky, somberly, "I'm sorry for ditching you, especially just as everything was falling apart" 

"Hey, Buck, I told you I didn't mind" Steve smiled, though it was sad, "You were going through stuff too, and you can't just put your life on hold. Besides, I had Clint and Nat" 

Bucky nods. 

"Who else?"

"Well, when we were looking to leave Brooklyn, we met this guy at the bus stop; Bruce. He had a few bruises on 'im, and he looked a little lost. Nat seemed to take a shine, and invited him to run off with us"

"And he just said yes?"

"Well, Bruce's home life wasn't the best, from what he's said. I guess, when you see an opening like that, it's hard to say no" Steve tilted his head, melancholy, "It sucks, but I'm glad he's with us; he's a good calm amongst the rest of us- _and_ he's wicked smart."

They're not far from the apartment now, but Steve wasn't paying all that much attention, drunk on how easy it was to fall back into conversation with Buck.

"After that, we met this guy, Thor, at a market. He's Norwegian, speaks a bit funny, and was trying to convince this lady at her stand to trade his krona for food. Guess we sort of picked him up somehow"

"And this guy, Thor, he got trouble at home too?"

"He says he's welcome back in Norway, but there's nothing left for him there" Steve wasn't entirely sure what Thor meant by that; even though he was by far the worst at guarding his emotions from showing on his face, Thor never much talked about why he'd found himself in America at 16.

"He nice?"

"Oh, of course; if not a little arrogant at times, but he always means well, and is the most honest person I've ever met"

Bucky was walking with a slight limp, and looking down Steve could see that his knuckles were bruised, as though he'd been punching someone. He frowns down at it, but says nothing.

"Anyone else to tell me about?"

"Yeah, one more; it's this guy, Tony" Steve offered Buck a wry grin, "He's a bit much sometimes; never really knows how to turn himself off, but he'll calm down if you have a headache. He's also a tested and proven genius, according to him."

"How'd ya pick him up?" 

"Well, when we were still driving between states, sleeping here and there, we found him smoking a cigar outside a Mcdonalds; Him and Bruce hit it off, and he just invited himself along" 

"Nothin' to leave behind?" 

Steve bit his lip.

"Well, err, he comes from a rich background; his dad owns Stark Industries" 

Bucky looked shock for a moment, and turned to look at Steve with a small amount of incredulity.

"Yeah, I know" Steve laughed, "A bit sheltered; you should've seen him the first time he rode on a public bus, he went crazy" 

"Guess it wasn't all great, if he ran off to live with you lot" 

Steve nodded as they reached the few steps up to the apartment complex.

"Guess not"

Speak of the devil, though; just as Steve was about to invite Bucky inside, Tony came out from behind the flat's stairs with an almost finished cigarette between his fingers. He took a final puff and dropped it on the floor to crush under his foot.

"Hiya, Captain" He said happily, walking over with confidence. He had that guarded look on his face that he reserved for everyone that wasn't their crew, and a tiger-like gaze as he looked Bucky up and down with scrutiny, "Who's this guy?" 

Bucky steps forward towards Tony. He doesn't offer his hand to shake. 

"I'm Bucky, you must be Tony" 

Tony gives a delighted smile, "Ahh, I see my reputation precedes me" He gives a little bow.

"Bucky and I were just catching up" Steve says, good natured, and turns to look at Bucky warmly. Tony follows the movement, and the smile goes stiff at the corners a little

"How do you two know each other?"

"He's my oldest friend; we shared a childhood"

"I just got back from a tour of Afghanistan" Bucky says, serious, not smiling at all, "Just wanted to say hi" 

There's a distrustful set to Bucky's shoulders, one that Steve knew Tony would notice. The boy never did know when to back down from a challenge though, and Steve knew that it was a matter of time before Tony said something cutting and ruined any chance of the two being friends. 

He was always so quick to be the bad guy first; almost never not cold to someone he just met, _especially_ someone who judged him at face value. It was a testament to how fake and plastic his upbringing was, filled with businessmen and nannies who almost always had ulterior motives. Steve just hoped Tony would behave. 

Steve was beginning to get uncomfortable with how tense the two were beside each other. Tony was just being Tony, but _Bucky_ had always been charming to anyone he met. What had changed that he was so quick to shut new people out?

Tony looks at the two of them for a short second before grinning, fox-sharp.

"So, are you going to invite Curt Connors inside?"

Steve winces in horror.

 _Goddammit_ _, Tony_

Bucky doesn't say anything about the cripple joke though, and looks almost unbothered. _Almost._

"No thanks, I needed to head back anyway" 

Steve looks at Bucky, heartbroken, but doesn't say anything to stop him leaving. 

"We'll talk more later, yeah, Buck?" 

"Sure thing, jerk; I'm not about to disappear on you again" 

Steve nods, and they exchange numbers before Bucky hands over his armful of groceries to Tony.

"Bye, punk" And off he went.

Steve watches him go, excited to have seen him after so long, and sad again to see him go.

Tony can tell Steve is upset at the man's departure, and opens his mouth to say something.

He thinks better of it though, and instead turns back around to bring the groceries upstairs and into the apartment. 

**Author's Note:**

> I just miss the OG Avengers team fics, man.  
> I'm really sorry about this. 
> 
> I have no beta, so please tell me about any mistakes in grammar, phrasing or spelling!!!!!!


End file.
